Warner Bros. is keen to cast Leonardo DiCaprio as the Joker in their upcoming movie. With legendary producer Martin Scorsese expected to helm the project, filmmakers are hoping this will persuade Dicaprio to take the role. The film will be under a new banner separate from the studio’s DCEU
The Joker origin movie would be directed by Todd Phillips who was well known for the Hangover films.
The “gritty, realistic” crime drama will be set in the underworld of Gotham and will explore the Joker’s childhood and what shaped him into becoming the manic villain we know him today. Jared Leto currently plays the Joker in Suicide Squad and is expected to reprise the role in Suicide Squad 2 and a spinoff Joker/Harley Quinn movie, but it does not have him in the origin film
Warner Bros. is hoping to nab A-listers for the project and DiCaprio is at the top of their list. Scorsese and DiCaprio have worked together on five films, including The Aviator and The Wolf of Wall Street for which DiCaprio earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination. Hence it is presumed that DiCaprio would want to collaborate with his mentor once again. However, the deal is not confirmed yet, and chances look very slim.
Leto was reportedly caught off-guard when he heard the studio planned to make a Joker origin movie without him and has complained to his agents about it. Leto was criticized for his flashy Suicide Squad Joker, and for his bizarre behavior on-set.
Things are not looking too good for the DC franchise at Warner Bros at the moment, with Matt Reeves planning on making a new Batman movie outside the DCEU; although he later clarified that it would not be so; and Ben Affleck on the fence about reprising his role as Batman.
As for the Joker origin movie, considering the iconic nature of his character and the attachment people still have to Heath Ledger’s Joker, there’s bound to be a lot of sides taken as to who would be better suited to play the role of The Joker and could they do it justice , the way Heath Ledger did.
Some applaud the idea of DiCaprio in the lead role and Scorsese producing, but others are not so sure.